Wit & Wisdom

“Do not think of knocking out another person’s brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself 10 years ago.”

Horace Mann, quoted in the Monterey County, Calif., Herald

“The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.”

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Nancy Mitford, quoted in The Wall Street Journal

“It is often easier to fight for a principle than to live up to it.”

Adlai Stevenson, quoted in Forbes.com

“There is only the trying. The rest is not our business.”

T.S. Eliot, quoted in The New York Times

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.”

John Steinbeck, quoted in the Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel

“Frankness is usually a euphemism for rudeness.”

Muriel Spark, quoted in The Boston Globe

“Mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Woody Allen, quoted in the A.V. Club